Sacramento homeless vagrant camping in a bus stop. (Photo: Katy Grimes for California Globe)
Sacramento Spending Another $12 Million on Tiny Homes for Homeless – on Top of Billions More
California’s homeless grift has cost taxpayers billion$
By Katy Grimes, August 8, 2025 2:45 am
The City of Sacramento Department of Community Response received a $12.35 million “Encampment Resolution Funds grant” from the California Department of Housing and Community Development in October 2024 – 10 months ago – “to purchase and construct additional tiny homes for homeless vagrants.
They’re just getting to it now?
The goal is to “improve overall infrastructure at the campus, expand outreach services in the community and enhance shelter and housing support,” the city announced Thursday.
“The grant also funds operations at the campus for two years.”
That’s $12,035,000 million dollars to spend on housing a small number of Sacramento’s mentally-ill homeless drug addicts.
The mission of the taxpayer funded Department of Community Response “is to provide compassionate and individualized support to people experiencing homelessness with the goal of aiding them on their path toward recovery, wellness and self-sufficiency.”
“Initially opened in 2024, the Roseville Road campus – located at a former U.S. Air National Guard facility – currently features approximately 100 tiny homes and trailers sheltering people experiencing homelessness.”
No mention of the mental illness or drug addiction Sacramento’s homeless suffer.
They are “sheltering people experiencing homelessness.”
Running the operation are two non-profits: The Gathering Inn and First Step Communities.
Besides building 135 ready-to-assemble “Boss Cubez” tiny homes, which says they are “building dignified homes to transform lives.”
The Gathering Inn has been around since 2004 working with homeless, “aiming to welcome new beginnings and transform lives.” They offer emergency housing, medical triage, mental health treatment, life skills classes, and they work with their homeless residents to find permanent housing.
This sounds like a thorough and comprehensive program to actually help change the lives of the homeless, and has 5 locations – two in Auburn, one in Roseville, one in Sacramento, and one in Elk Grove. And it takes employees to run these facilities.
The organization has a sizable budget, big officers’ salaries, and obtains most of its income from government grants, based on its 2024 IRS Form 990:
That is $6,274,629 in government grants, $250,000 in fundraising and $1,949,158 in “other” contributions, gifts and grants.
The total of the officer’s salaries is $690,899, and $33,175 in other benefits.
The other expenses are big as well – $4,712,664 in “other salaries and wages,” and $399,607 in other employee benefits.
It’s a big operation, and spends $$$ on IT, marketing, as well as payroll taxes, legal, and $12,619 on travel.
First Step Communities was only created in 2016 as a “Housing First model as a top priority.” Housing First was first pushed by the Obama administration, rather than prioritizing mental health and drug treatment, and life skills.
First Step Communities (filing under First Step Housing) received $6,832,903 in government grants, out of $7,085,436 total revenue for the 2023 IRS Form 990.
Their Executive Director and COO are paid $122,50 and $91,340 respectively.
Their consultant/accountant was paid $169,660.
Other salaries and wages totaled $3,782,991.
They paid $494,350 for insurance, and $29,991 for travel.
Since 2016, First Step Communities has accumulated $20,049,817 in grants and contributions.
You can see that Sacramento’s original $12 million grant for tiny homes ends up being a great deal more, and thus far, we have only seen more homeless drug addicts on Sacramento Streets, and that is because of the failed and corrupt Housing First policy. Only triage and treatment will lead to recovery. But if the homeless are treated and successfully transitioned back into society, the government gravy train of taxpayer funds ends.
Notably, “the First Step Communities (FSC) organization, along with other catalysts of this work such as Sacramento Steps Forward (SSF) and the Sacramento Continuum of Care (CoC), are in agreement with HUD’s direction towards Housing First as the priority model.”
The Globe has covered Sacramento’s gross homeless spending, as well as Sacramento Steps Forward.
The City of Sacramento blew through $57 Million on homeless spending in 2023, the Globe reported in 2024:
“The significant growth of the Sacramento homeless population has devoured resources, strained relationships, provoked litigation, and thrust the City of Sacramento (City) into the national spotlight for facing one of the most challenging homeless crises in the country,” the Sacramento City Auditor said in a new report. “The City Council has deemed homelessness an existential threat to the individuals living without housing and to the public health and safety of Sacramento’s residents and businesses.”
Here is an example of their “Solution-Oriented Investments:
“To work towards ending homelessness, the City invests in longer-term solutions that are designed to support the functioning of the homeless response system, prevent individuals from becoming unhoused,
and improve the housing supply.”
and;
“City leaders have also been actively discussing how the City can become more involved in prevention programs, including committing more funding.”
And this is because the former Mayor, and current Mayor, and City Council refuse to build tried-and-true programs in dealing with the homeless. Instead, out of incompetence, laziness or greed they pretend that “Housing First” is the solution.
The failed “Housing First” policy this state has spent billions on is… well… a failure – except for the contractors refurbishing and building the “housing” for the homeless.
In 2022, the Globe reported that Sacramento Steps Forward, responsible for “continuum of care” for the homeless, had a really fuzzy mission with really big funding.
“The Globe tried to access other Sacramento Steps Forward annual reports since 2011 on its website, but there are no live links.
In 2019-2020, Sacramento Steps Forward received $25,990,012 from the State, and $23,349,292 from the Federal government (above). Most of the nearly $50 million was earmarked for housing. They spent nearly $802,000 on “administration.”
The 2023 IRS Form 990 for Sacramento Steps Forward shows $37,576,604 in contributions and grants, $532,220 in investment income, $5,326,863 in salaries and benefits.
The compensation for officers and directors is nice and totals $923,592 in salaries and $48,993 in benefits:
But the icing on the cake is the $36,479,059 in government grants.
Is it any wonder we have more homeless drug addicts living on our streets with so many well-paid non-profit employees, tiny houses, renovated motels, and trailers – and $30,196 in travel?
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
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A few corrections if I may, first off all they are not “ homeless “ they are bums. Second their so called “ mental illness “ is 100% self induced, no one forced them to consume drugs, that was a decision that they made on their own. The responsibility and cost to house them is not my or anyone else’s problem.
The subject segment of the population are of the behavior you mention however more significant is they are and have been the effective tools to destroy California.
As it appears the rout of California real estate is well underway it is becoming abundantly clear the charters of Newsom Bass Steinberg Gloria et al has come to a devistating state of fruitation.
There is no humane answer in a nation that demands adherence to the Bill of Rights for all people, regardless of their mental and physical status. Tiny homes cannot deal with mental confusion, drug addiction, health issues. The answer lies in forcible incarceration in a fully staffed prison hospital; never to happen in our present society.
whose jacking up the rents and home prices? whose raising the credit scores so most don’t qualify? whose poisoning the food, me medicines, water, chem trails ECT? there’s a BIGGER PICTURE THAN YOU CAN EVER SEE.
i was in a severely abusive relationship…. my face dripping with blood my daughter and i had to flee with nothing not even shoes on our feet and i had no friends and family because i was isolated from everyone and spent 2 months in tents downtown because shelters were full……was that self induced? and those drug addicted bums as you call them were they only 1s who were there for me and protected us when my ex found us and tried to force me back….im disgusted by ur lack of humanity you’ve obviously lived a very blessed sheltered life but u need to realize not everyone has been soo lucky….i hope u get ur humbling one day
Facts don’t lie.
Not all people that work the system are down and outers.
Just look at the smiling faces of those earning six figures.
Certainly would be interested if they all live behind security gates.
Great work Katy.
Tomorrow, you are correct. If you disregard all the hype, PR and grandiose statements of concern for the ever-expanding “unhoused” population the facts are clear. Grifter organizations are making a killing off taxpayer money and their financial incentive is to spectacularly fail. The only workable solution is to separate the drug addicts from the drugs. That ain’t happening.
When we go to the links in Katy Grimes’ article in addition to what is directly posted in it, we see in 2022, with the same stupid one-note non-solution of Housing First, lots of money disappears. 2023, vagrancy worse, more money spent, same Housing First non-solutions. 2024, more homeless-vagrancy, more money spent, same go-to failed Housing First. 2025, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Who else has covered and continues to cover this abomination brought to us by Sac govt and their bad-guy non-profit “friends” but Katy Grimes, I’d like to know? No one? If there is any other reporter and outlet digging and covering this continuing outrage to the extent we’ve seen it done here at The Globe, I’ve entirely missed it.
By the way, Housing First is not only a repeatedly-used cost-prohibitive non-solution, but it is actually the worst kind of harm in that when the drug-addled homeless vagrants disappear into the Housing First, they tend to overdose and die in high numbers, out-of-sight and out-of-mind. Actually I should say that sensible people watching this costly and ineffective charade would count it as harmful, but the govt “leadership” and non-profits seem not to when the same bad ideas are applied over and over and over again. The absolute and total refusal to follow a model (e.g. Union Rescue Mission, Union Gospel Mission) that WORKS leads inevitably to misery, horror, and death. What other conclusion can anyone possibly come to when we see this appalling failure, year after year after year, in black and white?
5 STAR Comment!
Yes, we definitely need models that work such as the Union Gospel Mission in Sacramento which operates solely on community donations without government funding. It’s a men’s homeless shelter providing meals, clothing, hygiene items, and shelter to the homeless and impoverished year-round. It offers a 10-month Christ-centered recovery program for 24 residents, including discipleship, life-skills training, job preparation, and transitional housing. The mission also serves women in need with Bible study and essential supplies.
They are drug addicts. What should be built are more jails to house these criminals for drug possession. We used to do that, and there were no homeless. It’s really that simple.
The Commucrats have a different plan: Destroy our society so they can gain authoritarian control.
Remember when Governor Newscum so effectively cleaned up the streets of homeless camps and their drug infested inhabitants? He didn’t mind admitting he could to honor the arrival off CCP President Xi.
During his assessment of the Pacific Palisades fires, he quoted Voltaire, “Work spares us from three evils: boredom, vice, and need.” How mindful of him. (barf) He could’ve followed Voltaire’s axiom. Instead, millions of taxpayer $$$ are wasted or redistributed to corrupt NGOs as the three evils persist in the hallowed homeless communities Democrats established. It ties in with another wise quote attributed to Voltaire, “It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.” Dependence on drugs, government, and handouts has deprived a population of their dignity, reality and ability to be responsible and independent.
Health and Human Services or Malady and Miscreant Services?
Maybe Katy Grimes is aware that the small City of Lincoln, which is north of Sacramento, has sued The Gathering Inn over its plans to open a 105-bed medical respite center for the homeless, alleging that the nonprofit violated state law by failing to conduct required community engagement and by securing a $6.4 million state grant through a process that bypassed critical safeguards. The Gathering Inn had purchased the property on August 13, 2024, and the city was informed the following day, leading to accusations of a lack of transparency and failure to involve local officials and residents in the planning process. The city argues the facility is unnecessary for Lincoln’s small homeless population, that it is too large for the city’s capacity, and that it will draw homeless from elsewhere in the region, straining public safety resources. The lawsuit, filed in September 2024, also names the California Department of Social Services as a defendant, claiming the grant was awarded based on misleading information, including letters of support from groups like Sutter Health that were written when the project was planned for Roseville, not Lincoln. The Western Placer Unified School District (WPUSD) has also filed a similar lawsuit, citing safety risks to students and staff due to the facility’s proximity to several schools and the lack of transparency in the planning process. The legal proceedings are ongoing. Not surprisingly, Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a brief in support of The Gathering Inn’s position.
It unbelievable that The Gathering Inn wants to add a large homeless center in the small town of Lincoln in addition to the two in Auburn, one in Roseville, one in Sacramento, and one in Elk Grove that The Gathering Inn operates. It sounds like The Gathering Inn is using taxpayer funds to spread the homeless and warehouse them around the Sacramento area? We recently went up to Auburn and couldn’t believe the amount of homeless we saw along Highway 49 and the surrounding streets in what used to be a quiet foothills town where homeless were rarely seen.
Hey Democrats, use your tiny minds to do the right thing. Put away your pencils and go to Illinois. We won’t miss you so stay forever.
Thanks in advance.
I also take issue with using any former military air station to house individuals who can’t be trusted to use a spoon correctly.
More reckless spending on bandaid fixes for the homeless. Democrats don’t realize they need to focus on the reasons there are so many homeless and think about how to turn that around. Stop incentivizing it with giveaways!
as a former homeless from Sacramento, this is very NOT TRUE. I would call every homeless shelters and they are not helpful. They have rules and regulations where you have to have a social worker and when you ask how to get one they would say “I don’t know” or “who are you?”. The people who have access with this amount of money don’t help homeless people instead they hire family members and use the money for brand new cars and houses. CORRUPTED SYSTEM
To be fair all taxpayer funded organizations whether. gov or .org spend more on salaries and other expenses not related to whatever problem they claim to be trying to solve. Unfortunately, if nobody has been punished for the over 20billion spent on homelessness in California under NEWSCUM, nothing will ever change. FOR SOME REASON THEY CANT PROVIDE A RECORD OF WHERE ALL THE MONEY WENT.